iPhone 3G S

il_principe

http://twitition.com/owzm4

Ok so nothing to do with cycling but are any of the other iPhone users on here incensed with O2's stance re upgrades to the new 3G S? I want one but to get it I have to buy out my contract and then sign up to another 18 months. Now I get that I signed for 18 months and have to honour that but if I want to upgrade I should only have to pay the subsidy for the phone, not for airtime I'll never use, at a cost of around £500!

Of course there should be an upgrade charge. But it should only be commensurate with the cost of the subsidy. If you compare their PAYG 600 minutes, 1200 texts, free unlimited wifi bolton SIMplicity tariff (£20.00), with the £35 iPhone tariff for the same thing, we arrive at a handset cost of £15. £15 x 18 months, plus the initial £270 for the handset = about £540. Lo and behold that's what O2 are charging for PAYG 32GB 3Gs.

If you have only 6 months left on a contract (like everyone that upgraded to 3G on launch), you should be expected to pay 6 x £15 = £90, for instance. At the moment they are charging you both the subsidy AND the tariff, which is f@cking cheeky.

The mobile telco industry reminds me of the record industry - myopic as far as tech is concerned, head in the sand, ignoring the convergence of technology. Can't they see the way the market is headed? Time they lost the monoploy anyway, shouldn't have been allowed in the first place.

If O2 had any collective nous they'd tie upgraders to 12 month contracts in line with Apple's 12 month upgrade cycle, that way they could lock us iPhone fans in to another 12 months every 12 months. My contract ends in Dec, there's bound to be a new iPhone out in June 2010, guess I'll wait till then to sign up for another 18 months.

Way to alienate existing customers O2.

Rant over.

lost_in_thought

Could you not just buy the handset?

I don't know if that's possible with the iphone, but in my more wasteful days I used to do that regularly when I wanted a new phone but had time to run on my contract...

Also, I have no idea how much that would cost...

EDIT: And you can buy 12 month contracts, can't you? More pricey, but I considered it.

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

Could you not just buy the handset?

I don't know if that's possible with the iphone, but in my more wasteful days I used to do that regularly when I wanted a new phone but had time to run on my contract...

Also, I have no idea how much that would cost...

No you can't, you can buy PAYG and pop the existing sim in but that's still around £470!

greg66_tri_v2.0

But why do you want the 3GS? Come next week, the OS will be available on your 3G - all the same features as you'll find on a 3GS.

Increased speed is always nice, but you're dependent on O2's towers helping you out there, and even in London you can't always pick up a 3G signal, so I wouldn't bank on being able to get a 3GS signal.

R_T_A

The actual handset cost for any phone is normally around £400-500 (I've just checked Ebay and the iPhone 3G S is £570 upwards).

Telcos subsidise the phone as they get their margin gradually from you over the contract (e.g. month 12 onwards for a 12 month contract).

As you've still got 6 months to go, O2 probably haven't gathered their margin from you yet. Hence why they're giving you the full unsubsidised phone amount. They also know you'll continue with the existing iPhone until you upgrade, as people love the iPhone.

It's not big and it's not clever, but the exclusivity deal won't last forever, so they're milking their cash cow for all it's worth until then.

No I don't work for them .

il_principe

Greg66 wrote:

But why do you want the 3GS? Come next week, the OS will be available on your 3G - all the same features as you'll find on a 3GS.

Increased speed is always nice, but you're dependent on O2's towers helping you out there, and even in London you can't always pick up a 3G signal, so I wouldn't bank on being able to get a 3GS signal.

I'd like the better camera + video, also processor speed will help with some of the newer apps, but yeah, gonna wait till the next upgrade now. It's the principle of it though. I don't think O2 with have exclusivity much longer though.

biondino

I'll be getting a 3GS early next year, when my current (Three) contract runs out, and assuming they have any stock left! I've been waiting for enough memory to store all my music collection (it's touch and go whether it'll all fit on a 32Gb but I can easily prune if necessary) and a better camera, and this upgrade (just) deals with all my issues.

Jash is right though - it's almighty suckage for existing customers.

il_principe

R_T_A wrote:

The actual handset cost for any phone is normally around £400-500 (I've just checked Ebay and the iPhone 3G S is £570 upwards).

Telcos subsidise the phone as they get their margin gradually from you over the contract (e.g. month 12 onwards for a 12 month contract).

As you've still got 6 months to go, O2 probably haven't gathered their margin from you yet. Hence why they're giving you the full unsubsidised phone amount. They also know you'll continue with the existing iPhone until you upgrade, as people love the iPhone.

It's not big and it's not clever, but the exclusivity deal won't last forever, so they're milking their cash cow for all it's worth until then.

No I don't work for them .

The thing is plenty peeps would be happy to pay the subsidy, it's paying for the airtime that really pi$$es me off.

mountainroadie

mmmmmm IPHONE NANO next year folks
check out T3 magazine

gtvlusso

Sodding Blackberry for me......but it is a company provided and payed for item.....

next call to Oz please!

Iphones:

Design: good
Usage: Alright
Cost: your soul.....
Software: rubbish

Fireblade96

gtvlusso wrote:

Iphones:

Design: good
Usage: Alright
Cost: your soul.....
Software: rubbish

+
Usability as a phone: poor
Battery life: dire

I work in mobile telecoms...I've got a company-provided XDA (02 badged HTC), which is also poor as a phone, has rubbish battery life, and doesn't even have the good bits of the iPhone :-(

I'm off to the States in the summer though, I'm sure I can source an iPhone there :-)

greg66_tri_v2.0

[geek on]

One quite promising feature in the soon to be released iphone 3.0 is A2DP bluetooth profiling. This *should* mean that if you have a bluetooth car kit, you'll be able to stream your music from the iphone over the car's stereo. Instant in car iphone kit.

Supposedly. I await this with interest.

As for the camera, well, yes, I recognise that lots of people like to use their phones as a camera. I prefer to use a camera (yet another expensive "hobby").

jimmcdonnell

iPhone 3.0 software does provide better functionality than version 2.0, but the iPhone 3.0 has some different hardware which the software can't deliver on a version 2.0 handset... Also, O2 signed for a 5-year exclusivity deal with Apple, and this month is the 2nd anniversary, so 3 more years to wait yet. I've been happily with Orange for 13 years, but I'm about to switch, I figure 2 years is long enough to iron out most of the bugs... My Blackberry 8820 has done a pretty good job for me for 2 years but the iPhone UI is a joy, so here I come!

Plus, as a new user (to O2) I don't get stiffed with the punitive upgrade charges. Just the punitive handset cost and the £35 a month contract :shock:

d21dga

If you know someone who works for an organisation who gets their corporate mobiles supplied by O2 you can often get a 30% discount on line rental which lessens the blow slightly.
I know NHS employees can get it for example and my work does it as well. The discount is available for friends and family and can be used up to 5 times per year.

fossyant

Go Android and get a HTC Magic on Voda.....

roger_merriman

as all of the upgrades (bar the speach control) as been around ooh 10 years give or take i'm not wildly keen to pay a lot of money for it. I'll see what runs on the orginal iphone i'd like video which it could do, though wether apple will allow it another, still waiting on bluetooth file excange mind you. on the plus side the new 13inch MBP hits the spot!

il_principe

Interesting musing on the legality of O2's demands here:

http://www.dave-thorp.me.uk/2009/06/11/o2-contract-buyout-unlawful-penalty

I'm unashamedly an iPhone fanboy - but simply because it's the best and easiest to use phone I've ever owned and you don't have to be hugely techy to get the most out of it. I was playing with a friends Motorola the other day and it was awful to use in comparison. I know other phones offer the same stuff, but the cloud synching works so damn well and some of the apps are brilliant.

mikey0303

its still too limited for me even though its the most polished performer out there

i'll be sticking to my Blackberry for now

artaxerxes

Any news on when the Palm Pre is due to be released in the UK? I've just received my PAC from Vodafone, so I'm all set to sell my soul to O2 for the iPhone, but I'll wait if the Palm Pre release is imminent.

bluesacs

I'm not actually sure this mobile phone fad is really going to take off. Why don't you wait a bit to see whether people keep using them?

il_principe

linoue wrote:

Any news on when the Palm Pre is due to be released in the UK? I've just received my PAC from Vodafone, so I'm all set to sell my soul to O2 for the iPhone, but I'll wait if the Palm Pre release is imminent.

Rumour has it O2'll have the Pre as an exclusive! If true that's v annoying as it looks a viable alternative. I'm just hoping that O2'll lose the exclusive rights to iPhone by the 2010, either that or they see sense and offer 12 month contracts (which no one seems to do anymore).

artaxerxes

I'll be sold on the iPhone if you could mount it on a bike and use it's GPS (or play annoying music on it loudly).

biondino

My dad, who has no ability of interest in tech, was completely wowed when my gf demonstrated hers to him. It's just such an intuitive, slick piece of equipment. I'm sold (and I hate Apple).

scoobers

I just bought a 3G iphone at the beginning of June, just outside of the 14 day return period.
The new software fixes most of my gripes (MMS, cut and paste etc.)
Even if I had known about the new version and waited for that, I would think the next version would be out before my next upgrade is due (24 months).
I'm pretty happy with the one I have, not really interested in having the new version just because it's the new version.

prawny

Greg66 wrote:

One quite promising feature in the soon to be released iphone 3.0 is A2DP bluetooth profiling. This *should* mean that if you have a bluetooth car kit, you'll be able to stream your music from the iphone over the car's stereo. Instant in car iphone kit.

Supposedly. I await this with interest.

As for the camera, well, yes, I recognise that lots of people like to use their phones as a camera. I prefer to use a camera (yet another expensive "hobby").

Indeed! How expensive have lenses got this year! Damn strong yen!

I'm such an old man when it comes to phones, I don't even know what model mine is, its a nokia of some description. It has an mp3 player and a proper headphone jack, but I don't ever use it for that, I've got a 120gb ipod for that, and I hardly use the camera i've got a Nikon D80 for that, and a couple of old filmies

il_principe

Tell me about it, I'm in the market for a EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II but the price is terrifying.

m0scs

I love my new iPhone, so much easier to text and do lots of other things like post this message while out and about. I'm sure the latest model will be faster but mine seems ok and I mainly use it ok a wifi connection at home.